GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
PAYMENTSSIGNAL

The interactive academy for the standards, messages, and rails that move money.

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PAYNOW (SINGAPORE)

Unregistered PayNow: a proxy that maps to no account

Trigger: The PayNow proxy (mobile number, NRIC/FIN, UEN or QR) is not registered, so it does not resolve to an account.

Contributor Shubham Mathure

What operations sees first: The payment stops before any debit; the payer is told the PayNow proxy could not be found.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Never left Riya's account — the proxy never resolved.

DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?

No settlement; the payment failed at proxy resolution.

WHO ACTS NEXT?

Riya Riya checks Arjun's registered PayNow proxy (or scans his current QR) and retries.

PLAY THE EXCEPTION

Trigger: The mobile number or QR that Riya entered is not registered for PayNow, so the directory cannot map it to any account.

STEP 1 / 4MESSAGE

Riya enters Arjun's PayNow proxy — no account number

Riya (payer) → Bank Alfa (payer bank)

Riya scans Arjun's PayNow QR or types his mobile number in her banking app. She pays to an identifier she can remember, and never has to see or type his bank account number.

Step 1 of 4: Riya enters Arjun's PayNow proxy — no account number

  1. 01Message
    Riya enters Arjun's PayNow proxy — no account numberRiya (payer) → Bank Alfa (payer bank)
  2. 02Message
    The PayNow directory maps the proxy to a real accountBank Alfa (payer bank) → PayNow proxy directory
  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The directory reports the proxy is unknownPayNow proxy directory → Bank Alfa (payer bank)
  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    Riya is told the payee could not be foundBank Alfa (payer bank) → Riya (payer)
  5. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Nothing was debited — Riya's account is untouched because the proxy never resolved.
    Settlement
    No clearing and no settlement occurred; the payment failed before it reached FAST.
    Who acts next
    Riya (payer) — Riya re-checks the mobile number or QR, or Arjun registers the proxy with his bank, then she retries.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Riya enters Arjun's PayNow proxy — no account numberRiya (payer) → Bank Alfa (payer bank)

    Riya scans Arjun's PayNow QR or types his mobile number in her banking app. She pays to an identifier she can remember, and never has to see or type his bank account number.

  2. 02Message
    The PayNow directory maps the proxy to a real accountBank Alfa (payer bank) → PayNow proxy directory

    The PayNow directory looks up the mobile number and returns which bank and account it belongs to. The proxy points at a real account at Nordbank without ever exposing that account number to Riya.

  3. 03 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    The directory reports the proxy is unknownPayNow proxy directory → Bank Alfa (payer bank)

    The PayNow directory answers that the proxy is not registered. With no account to send to, the payment cannot proceed and Bank Alfa stops it before any money is touched.

  4. 04 · EXCEPTION PATHMessage
    Riya is told the payee could not be foundBank Alfa (payer bank) → Riya (payer)

    Bank Alfa tells Riya the PayNow identifier could not be matched to an account, so she can check the number or ask Arjun to register it before trying again.

  5. OUTCOME
    Funds
    Nothing was debited — Riya's account is untouched because the proxy never resolved.
    Settlement
    No clearing and no settlement occurred; the payment failed before it reached FAST.
    Who acts next
    Riya (payer) — Riya re-checks the mobile number or QR, or Arjun registers the proxy with his bank, then she retries.

THE TIMELINE

  1. 01Riya
    Enters Arjun's PayNow proxy to send SGD 60.00 — no account number is shared.
  2. 02PayNow proxy directory
    Cannot resolve the proxy to a registered account and stops the payment.

    PayNow is an addressing overlay: an unregistered proxy has no account behind it, so the payment cannot proceed.

  3. 03Bank Alfa
    Never debits Riya; her app shows the PayNow proxy could not be found.

Resolution: PayNow rides on FAST but resolves the proxy to a real account first. An unregistered proxy fails the payment up front, so there is no debit and nothing settles via MEPS+.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS

Sources for this scenario2
  1. Official requirement

    FAST and PayNow ↗ — Association of Banks in Singapore · PayNow proxy resolution

    Describes FAST (Fast And Secure Transfers), Singapores near-instant 24/7 SGD retail transfer service cleared by the Singapore Automated Clearing House (SACH), which prepares net settlement files settled in MEPS+; and PayNow, the proxy-addressing overlay on FAST (mobile number, NRIC/FIN, UEN or PayNow QR), launched July 2017 and available 24/7. · Checked 2026-07-14

    FAST clears in real time but settles net via MEPS+; PayNow is an addressing overlay on FAST, not a separate settlement system.

  2. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact timings vary.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.